Young consumers seek new, different condoms

There hasn’t been a lot of growth in intimacy health lately, with the exception of intimacy enhancement devices, which are up 16.5% to a relatively small $26.2 million base for the 52 weeks ended June 16, according to IRI. But there is plenty of opportunity to drive growth into the category moving forward, especially with the Millennials entering the marketplace.

"People want something new and different in the category for condoms, just like they would for laundry detergent or dish soap," observed Matthew Shiflin, general manager of Jarden and distributor of Billy Boy condoms. "Fifty-six percent of condom purchasers today are 18-year-old to 24-year-old collegiate males. These are Millennials who are charged with social media and want to be wowed. They want to identify with something that’s different than the traditional norm."

"There are consumers out there who are looking for something new," added Davin Wedel, president of Global Protection, which makes One Condoms. "And there’s the potential to bring those new, younger consumers into the category."

Church & Dwight possesses the lion’s share of the male contraceptive category — a 73.9% dollar share and a 72.7% unit share across total U.S. multi-outlets. That may seem intimidating for some manufacturers, but many of the specialty condom manufacturers breaking through to mass — in addition to Billy Boy there’s Global Protection, Kimono and Sir Richard’s Condom Co. — consider themselves category catalysts.

"What we’ve been seeing across the board is that the overall base business is down anywhere from 3% to 5%, depending on the retailer," Shiflin said. As a whole, the category is slightly down by 1.2%, according to IRI data. "The only factor that’s really been sustaining additional losses and/or growing the category is the [new-to-mass-planogram] brands."

Category awakens with energetic sales

With the launch of Procter & Gamble’s ZzzQuil, a relatively quiet sleep category has exploded with energy this year. A lot of that has to do with the $121.1 million in sales that ZzzQuil — both tablet and liquid formulations — has generated this year.

But that doesn’t explain everything. The entire category is up nearly $145 million. For the 52 weeks ended June 16 across total U.S. multi-outlets, IRI measured a 707.4% lift in sleep liquid sales to $89.7 million. The slightly larger category of sleep tablets realized a 29.8% lift in sales to $294.2 million.

"[Sleep] is definitely one of the higher-growth areas that we’ve seen recently," noted Laura Mahecha, industry manager at Kline’s Healthcare practice. It had been on a strong trajectory over the past few years, Mahecha said, "but ZzzQuil really bumped it up."

And it’s not the only sleep brand with a strong growth trajectory. "The MidNite brand, a more natural sleep aid, continues to do well," Mahecha said. "People like it because of the claim that they’ll ‘wake alert.’"

MidNite’s introduction of MidNite for Menopause as a line extension was recognized as one of Parade magazine’s 2013 Products of the Year.

Meda Consumer Healthcare, which acquired the MidNite brand in late 2012, also trades on the "other side of the aisle" with its alertness brand Vivarin. Vivarin will be undergoing a package redesign this fall, Kimberly Brown, Vivarin brand manager, told DSN. "Focused on gaining relevancy in the lives of young adults, the brand is embracing a lifestyle marketing approach that includes new TV [and] pop-culture events."

Regulations, aging population boost category sales

Martha Stewart, who is launching her own line of supplements at NACDS Total Store Expo, couched the aging of America as a "silver tsunami" that will have older Americans streaming toward all things health and wellness.

In addition to a swell of seniors, the overall tone in the media has turned more positive when it comes to supplements — and with good reason. Both the Food and Drug Administration and the industry at large have worked toward better regulating and vetting the supplement space.

"The industry is continuing to grow," Steve Mister, CRN’s president and CEO, told DSN. "Even through the recession of 2008-2009, we were seeing [upward of] 8% growth. We’re seeing a lot of interest from outside the industry, whether it’s equity capital coming into existing companies, or whether it’s other companies buying into the industry." The public companies that entered the category through acquisition in the past year include Church & Dwight (L’il Critters/ VitaFusion), Procter & Gamble (New Chapter) and Reckitt Benckiser (Schiff/Airborne).

"First of all, … 57% of adults use nutritional supplements, and it’s going to just stay very strong going forward — very steady growth between 5% and 10%," said James Craigie, C&D’s chairman, CEO and interim president. The opportunity, he said, is in gummies — 58% of kids’ vitamins are gummies, but gummies comprise only 3% of adult SKUs.

That’s changing, however, as both Pfizer Consumer and Bayer Healthcare have entered with Centrum and One-A-Day launches, respectively. Bayer’s One-A-Day VitaCraves has been one of the fastest-growing vitamins this year.

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